Press release

04 February 2016

Instagram today announced that it began running its first 60- second video ads, starting with T-Mobile and Warner Brothers. Until now, the maximum length for video ads was 30 seconds, already longer than the 15-second videos users are allowed to post.

Instagram tells me that “We recognize that advertisers have a variety of creative resources and want to bring more choice to help them reach their business goals.”

A Chinese company has unveiled the world's first commercially available passenger drone at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

The Ehang 184, created by Guangzhou-based company Ehang, essentially looks like a larger version of a quadcopter drone - except with a small cockpit in the middle capable of carrying a single passenger.

Pilotless planes have been developed and tested before, but Ehang says their vehicle is the world's first commercially available self-flying aircraft.

Ehang has only revealed short videos of the drone flying in tests, but they claim it's capable of flying for 23 minutes after only two hours charging time, when carrying a maximum weight of 100kg - around the weight of a single passenger and a small backpack or piece of luggage.

Ehang said the 184 had undergone more than 100 test flights at low altitudes near Guangzhou, even carrying a passenger a number of times.

It's designed to fly fairly low, at altitudes of between 300 to 500 metres, but its creators claim it can reach 3,500 metres at the most. It's also got a fairly nippy top speed of 63mph.

The drone is controlled through a simple tablet-based app

Reassuringly, they promised that their device is fairly safe - even if one of the 184's four rotors fail, the other three will be able to take the aircraft down into a rough emergency landing.

The most interesting (and scary) part about the drone is that it's autonomous - passengers choose their destination and route on a tablet, and can only choose to either 'take off' or land'.

They can't issue any other directions to actually pilot the drone themselves, which means, according to the creators, passengers won't need a license to fly one.

But considering that the humble hover board if illegal to use on the UK's streets, it's unlikely that prospective Ehang 184 owners would ever be able to fly in their drones without some kind of permit.

Although drone pilots in the UK are currently fairly free to fly their devices as long as they stay away from built-up areas or restricted airspace, there's plans to introduce further regulation and controls like a US-style registration system in the works - so devices like the Ehang 184 would certainly face tight restrictions if they ever came to market.

Ehang co-founder Shang Hsaio says the 184 is likely to cost between £140,000 to £200,000 after its proposed launch later this year, but having raised tens of millions of pounds in investment, Ehang could yet bring out a more affordable version.

19 November 2015

When videos recorded vertically are posted on YouTube, two black bars appear on each side. Knowing the relevance of this channel’s audience -4 billion video views a day- and the need NGOs have for spaces to publicize their social actions, J. Walter Thompson Brazil's team created the “Doe as Barras” ("Donate the Bars") project. The idea was to give these institutions, which usually have limited resources for advertising, a little bit more of autonomy and visibility in their communication.

The good thing about YouTube is the almost inconceivably vast volume and range of video, all easily accessible in one place. The bad thing about YouTube is… well, all the same things, especially if you're an adult trying to moderate the media intake of a small child.

Which is why YouTube is launching its YouTube Kids app in the UK today, offering filtered content for three-to-eight-year-olds.

In an ideal world, of course, no child would be left to watch videos unsupervised because they would all have a constantly engaged parent on hand to direct their tiny eyes through the thickets of inappropriate content.

20 August 2015

Last week, Samsung held a big conference in New York. While many anticipated the announcements of the Galaxy Note 5 and the Galaxy S6 Edge+, the company also teased a new upcoming device — the Samsung Gear S2. This new smartwatch looks nothing like the Samsung Gear S. It’s a smaller, more fashionable watch that will go head-to-head against the Apple Watch.

15 July 2015

The use of software that blocks ads on websites is on a rapid rise. According to a study last year by PageFair and Adobe, some 144 million people used the software monthly, up almost 70% from the year before. But so far, those ads are getting blocked almost exclusively on computers, not on mobile phones. That’s about to change. This week, the maker of the most popular ad blocking software, Adblock Plus, is releasing a first crack at a mobile web browser that automatically blocks annoying ads.

News Feed is a personalised stream of stories that you build from the people and Pages you’ve connected to on Facebook. The goal of News Feed is to show you the stories that matter most to you. To do this, Facebook uses ranking to order stories based on how interesting they believe they are to you: specifically, whom you tend to interact with, and what kinds of content you tend to like and comment on.

05 September 2014

The slow, Swedish striptease is over. After coyly dropping photos for months—a headlight here, some silky seats there—Volvo finally pulled the cover off its new SUV, the XC90. “This is one of the most important days in our history, Chief Executive Officer Hakan Samuelsson said in a statement. “We are not just launching a car, but relaunching our brand.” He isn’t understating it. The company, now owned by China-based Zhejiang Geely, hopes this is the vehicle that turns around its U.S. sales. If all goes as planned, the SUV will help double Volvo’s annual sales by 2020.

25 July 2014

Ogilvy & Mather London has created a new social campaign for Hellmann’s Mayonnaise called ‘Hellmann’s Summer Hacks’. Playing off the rising consumer trend of ‘life hacks’, the campaign features bite-sized pieces of digital content designed for social media that demonstrate new and innovative ways to make summer outdoor eating even more pleasurable.

Volvo is teaming up with The Weather Channel to promote its XC60 crossover and reach consumers with its first iPad-application use of branded creative that appears in the background of content on the channel's iPad app.

Japanese beverage company Otsuka is taking part in the first private moon-landing project and the company is planning to send a titanium can filled with its Pocari Sweat powdered sports drink, along with the dreams and messages of children from all over the world.

This week we’ve been noticing a lot of “ads that aren’t” — advertisements that extend beyond just their marketing potential and more than just ads. From Chipotle’s new packaging that features original prose from famous authors to a poster that encourages blood donation and charge your phone, the products of these campaigns are useful for consumers in their own right.

11 April 2014

While many marketers continue to struggle in syncing up compelling mobile creative with new types of ad units, automakers are staying a step ahead of the competition, according to a Mindshare executive at the 2014 IAB Mobile Marketplace.

05 July 2013

Startup Dash Labs is developing a car diagnostic tool that enables the driver to view real-time information about it’s performance. The on-board device plugs into the vehicle’s port (usually located beneath the steering wheel) and connects to a smartphone app.

22 March 2013

Land Rover North America is hyping the global debut of the all-new Range Rover Sport March 26 at the New York International Auto Show through efforts that span a microsite, video marketing and social media buzz.

07 December 2012

Since computer technology entered the automobile, it was just a matter of time, when known computer mechanisms would conquer the driver. We have seen it with the renowned case of Fiat eco:Drive years ago. Now with electric cars like the Chevy Volt the car-smartphone-combination becomes even more reasonable.

10 August 2012

Statistics are often a good start for a brand campaign. Especially for Volkswagen, as it seems. Just some days ago, we posted the UK campaign “Dont’ make up & drive”, which also based on accident statistics.

Smart USA has a nice Facebook campaign going, that involves users and is balancing on the verge of Facebook’s restrict competition rules. We have seen flipbooks from VW and smart before, and an AXE comic novel, where users could vote on how the story would continue.

The car manufacturer BMW was the first one who integrated Apple’s products from most models from day one. Now the pages seems to have turned. The ”My BMW Remote” app is now available for smartphones running the Android operating system. The app allows various remote functions, including the locking and unlocking the doors via smartphone.

27 May 2011

Many brands have struggled when it comes to converting a popular offline presence into online recognition.

Hoping to remove any practical barriers to this process, and encourage instant online appreciation, springwise.com reports that Renault were displaying their innovative Facebook share pillars at a recent AutoRAI Amsterdam Motorshow.

05 March 2010

For the celebration of the Volvo Ice Camp 2010 in the Austrian Alps, Volvo Cars Spain has organised the first Volvo Photography Competition in facebookunder the theme "Volvo and the winter". This is the latest Spanish example of Volvo's strategy in Social Media, which began with the appointment of a local Community Manager and the local launch of two international social media campaigns: The Blind Preview and Drive Around the World.

Milan to Marlow on one tank of diesel. A story of friendship and fuel economy. Dom Joly and Rufus Hound embark on a journey of discovery, to see if they can make it back from Milan to Volvo HQ in Marlow, with just one tank of diesel in the car.

23 October 2009

Automaker turns to Blind Artist to launch its most exciting car to date: the all-new S60

Drawings by a blind artist are the key component of a new social media campaign to be launched next week. The initiative is being developed by the marketing services agency Mindshare for its client, Swedish automaker Volvo.

06 March 2009

Volvo Cars has launched a sales targeted activity for its C70 model across print, online and mobile platforms.

The campaign planned by Mindshare’s Invention group is set to launch across European markets including the UK; Germany; France; Belgium; Netherlands; Italy; Spain and Sweden starting in the first week of March and continuing until July.